High Covid CFR is cause of concern for Maharashtra authorities

In October, there were a total number of 60,222 new Covid-19 cases with 1149 deaths thus bringing the average CFR to 1.90%. In contrast, September reported a total of 85,980 new cases with 1754 deaths with the CFR of 2.04%

Although the state has been witnessing a steady drop in the Covid-19 cases over last more than two months, the Case Fatality Rate (CFR) still remains a matter of concern for the authorities. In the last four days, 129 deaths have occurred against 4,221 number of new cases reported. In October, there were a total number of 60,222 new Covid-19 cases with 1149 deaths thus bringing the average CFR to 1.90%. In contrast, September reported a total of 85,980 new cases with 1754 deaths with the CFR of 2.04%.

Although the Maharashtra has been witnessing a steady drop in the Covid-19 cases over last more than two months, the Covid Case Fatality Rate (CFR) still remains a matter of concern for the authorities (AHT PHOTO)

Experts said that a CFR of less than 1.5% indicates that a pandemic is under control. CFR measures the severity of a particular disease by defining the total number of deaths as a proportion of reported cases at a specific time. A major reason is high CFR is the deaths of senior citizens or those with comorbidities. Daily deaths reported in the state have been around 30-40 for last few weeks.

Dr Om Srivastava, infectious disease expert who is also a member of the state appointed Covid-19 task force. “We are seeing an overall decline in the CFR. Ideally we should be having a CFR of less than 1.5 %.”

State surveillance officer Dr Pradeep Awate said that authorities want to bring the death rate to zero. “We get around 1000 Covid-19 new cases daily and the deaths we are seeing is majorly of senior citizens or those with comorbidities after infected for Covid-19 virus,” he said.

This was the second time Nagpur reported zero positive cases and deaths. The first was on September 29.

However, doctors and experts said festivities, which were at its peak from Tuesday, might be going to be the most crucial period during the Covid-19 pandemic. After last year’s dull Diwali due to the pandemic enthusiasm seen in people this year could prove to be dangerous, Dr Uday Bodhankar said.

Nagpur was one of the worst-hit districts in the state.

The cumulative CFR, the total deaths—140,345 against the case tally of 6,615,299 is 2.12 %. Maharashtra on Friday recorded 1141 cases with 32 deaths. Mumbai reported 252 new cases and six deaths taking the tally to 6,615,299 and toll to 16,265.

The state carried out 100,229 tests done on Friday while the number of recoveries was 1163. The total number of active patients in Maharashtra currently stands at 15,062. Of them the highest are in Mumbai (4160) followed by Pune (3190) and Ahmednagar (2015).